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Category: Thematic Tracks

The thematic tracks represents the main theme through which the Geneva Health Forum approaches global health issues. The thematic tracks are the backbone of the Geneva Health Forum content and programme.

Pre-eclampsia/eclampsia is responsible for upwards of 20% of maternal morbidity and mortality in developing countries. We examine the relationship between food intake and symptoms of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia among Indian women aged 15-49 (n=39,657) for the most recent live birth in the five years preceding the National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-06). Daily consumption of milk, vegetables, chicken/meat and weekly pulses/beans consumption are associated with substantially lower risk of pre-eclampsia. Eclampsia risk is higher among those who consumed fruit and chicken/meat occasionally, and lower among those consuming vegetables daily.

Background

Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia pose significant threats to maternal health, particularly in developing countries. In low-and middle-income settings, these two conditions affect approximately 8% of all pregnancies, causing an estimated 15%-20% of maternal morbidity and mortality. Pre­eclampsia is a life threatening complication of pregnancy that typically starts after the 20th week of gestation. Women with pre-eclampsia may present with symptoms such as headache, upper abdominal pain, or visual disturbances and have raised blood pressure, ankle oedema and proteinuria. When pre-eclampsia is left untreated or is severe, giving rise to seizures/convulsions which cannot be attributed to other causes (such as epilepsy), the condition is known as eclampsia. Although several studies have found that micronutrient deficiencies, such as iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium, contribute to pre-eclampsia risks, few studies have evaluated the potential role of different food types.

Objectives

Existing nutritional evidence is highly variable. Dietary patterns may influence maternal antioxidant levels, mediating the link between pre-eclampsia and oxidative stress, an established risk factor. However, consumption of high-energy diets may increase risk of pre-eclampsia by inducing abnormal lipid metabolism, while consumption of dietary fibre may regulate these metabolic processes, thereby reducing risk. However, studies which have attempted to test these links empirically have not been conducted in high burden countries, nor have they employed appropriate multivariate models. To our knowledge, there has not been any previous large-scale report concerning the dietary risk factors for pre-eclampsia and eclampsia in Indian women. Here, we evaluate potential dietary risk factors of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, using a large representative sample of Indian mothers in the third National Family Health Survey conducted during 2005-06.

Methodology

Data were taken from the most recent wave of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3, 2005–2006), India’s Demographic and Health Surveys. NFHS-3 collected demographic, socioeconomic and health information from a nationally representative probability sample of 124,385 women aged 15–49. The sample is a multistage cluster sample with an overall response rate of 98%. All states of India are represented in the sample (except the small Union Territories), covering more than 99% of the country’s population. The analysis presented here focuses on 39,657 women in the sample who report being married and who have had a live birth in the five years preceding the survey. The survey was conducted using an interviewer-administered questionnaire in the native language of the respondent. To assess the occurrence of pre-eclampsia, mothers were asked if at any time during their last pregnancy they experienced relevant symptoms, including difficulty with vision during daylight, night blindness, convulsions (not from fever), swelling of the legs, body or face, excessive fatigue, or vaginal bleeding. Women who reported difficulty with vision during daylight, swelling of the legs, body, or face, or excessive fatigue were coded as having symptoms of pre-eclampsia, whereas those who reported experiencing convulsions (not from fever) were coded as symptomatic of eclampsia. Data on blood pressure and proteinuria during pregnancy were not available in the NFHS. Dietary intake variables were based on the self-reported frequency of consumption of milk or curd, green leafy vegetables, fruits, pulses and beans, eggs, fish, chicken or meat, categorised into daily, weekly, occasionally, or never. Potential confounders and covariates were selected on the basis of previous knowledge of their association with pre-eclampsia/eclampsia. We used multiple logistic regression to estimate the association between variation in dietary intake and pre-eclampsia and eclampsia risk after adjusting for maternal factors, biological and lifestyle factors and socio-demographic characteristics of the mothers. Models were adjusted for sampling weights (IIPS & Macro International 2007). All analyses were conducted using the SPSS statistical software package Version 19.

Results

Overall 55.6% of mothers reported pre-eclampsia symptoms, and 10.3% reported eclampsia. Table 1 reports the results of our statistical models. After adjusting for maternal, biological, and chronic disease risk factors, as well as socio-demographic characteristics, we found that the risk of pre-eclampsia was significantly lower among women who consumed milk daily (OR:0.88;95%CI:0.81-0.96), green leafy vegetables daily/weekly (OR: 0.69 to 0.76), pulses or beans at least weekly/occasionally (ORs ranges from 0.84 to 0.92), fruits daily (OR:0.92), eggs weekly/occasionally, consumes fish (OR:0.90) or chicken/meat daily or occasionally, with added reference to those who never consumed them. However, a greater risk of pre-eclampsia was found among women consuming fruits weekly/occasionally (OR:1.11), eggs daily (OR:1.23) and fish weekly (OR:1.22). The risk of eclampsia was lower among those consuming green leafy vegetables (ORs ranges from 0.74 to 0.79), consuming fish weekly or occasionally (ORs ranges from 0.44 to 0.62), eggs weekly or occasionally (Ors ranges from 0.61 to 0.76), but was higher among those who consumed fruits (ORs ranges from 1.18 to 1.44), chicken/meat occasionally (OR:1.28;95%CI:1.11-1.48) with reference to those who never consumed them.

Conclusion

Our study provides empirical evidence of an association between the frequency of intake of specific food items and prevalence of pre-eclampsia/eclampsia in a large nationally representative sample of Indian women. Findings suggest that variation in the frequency of consumption of specific foods has a substantial effect on the occurrence of symptoms suggestive of pre-eclampsia/eclampsia in this population. The strengths of our study include the large nationally representative study sample and the population-level focus on the predictors of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. However, due to the general challenges of measuring hypertensive disorders in population-based studies, the information of the symptoms of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia presented here is based on self-reports and should therefore be interpreted with care. Although we adjusted for several confounding variables, we cannot exclude the possibility of residual confounding. In these analyses, the cross-sectional design precludes causal inferences and we were limited to the questions used to elicit lifestyle and dietary information. Few population level studies exist which assess the dietary determinants of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. This study is important because few others have reported pre-eclampsia/eclampsia prevalence rates based on population-level data. Our study implicates that modifiable risk factors for pre-eclampsia/eclampsia exists and thus there is a need for replication of findings given that the dietary patterns are modifiable. Our study findings may serve as an important call for health care providers to heighten their awareness of the increased population-level risk for pre-eclampsia and eclampsia disease originating in pregnancy. With the target of the Millennium Development Goals in sight, pre-eclampsia/eclampsia should be identified as one of the priority areas in reducing maternal mortality in India. However, further research involving the use of a more comprehensive dietary measure, pre-pregnancy assessment of all the risk factors and ascertainment of dietary intake prior to the development of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia and accuracy of reporting of the symptoms of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia are needed in a developing country setting.

In 2009, UNAIDS called for the virtual elimination of Mother to Child Transmission. In 2011, the Global Plan started and it covers all low and middle-income countries, but focuses on the 22 countries with the highest estimated numbers of pregnant women living with HIV. The data used were obtained from 2012 progress reports submitted by countries to UNAIDS and Spectrum software 2012 country files were used in monitoring the progress of these countries. From this study, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia were the top progressing countries while India, Congo Democratic Republic, Nigeria, Angola, Chad and Mozambique were in the rear.

Background

In 2009, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/VIGS (UNAIDS) called for the virtual elimination of Mother to Child Transmission, a call that has since been embraced by many agencies, regional coordinating bodies and national governments.
In 2011, at the United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS, global leaders made commitment with a plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and to keeping their mothers alive. This plan covers all low and middle-income countries, but focuses on the 22 countries with the highest estimated numbers of pregnant women living with HIV.

Objectives

The objective of this study was to access the progress of the priority countries involved in Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections in children and keeping their mothers alive.

Methodology

Research question:
What is the progress made by the priority countries towards the elimination of new HIV infections in children and keeping their mothers alive.Methods:
The data used were obtained from 2012 progress reports submitted by countries to UNAIDS and Spectrum software 2012 country files. The study looked at the overall target 1 which is geared towards reducing the number of new HIV infections among children by 90%. The study also looked at Prong 3: Targets 3.1 - reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV to 5% , Target 3.2 - having 90% of mothers receiving Perinatal antiretroviral therapy or prophylaxis and Target 3.3 - having 90% of breastfeeding infant-mother pairs receiving antiretroviral therapy or prophylaxis. The 2009 data serves as the baseline for this study.

Results

For the overall target 1, the countries were categorized into 3 categories with 8 countries achieving rapid decline ( > 30%), 7 countries had moderate decline (20 -30%) while 5 countries had slow or no decline (10%) The percentage difference in reduction of mother-to-child transmission rate (%) (2009-2011), 9 countries (5 - 10%) and 5 countries (90%, 50-90% and < 50% in 3, 12 and 7 countries respectively.
By 2011, the percentages of mother-infant pairs receiving antiretroviral drugs to reduce transmission during breastfeeding were >50%, 21-50% and ≤20% in 3, 6 and 11 countries respectively. From this study, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia were the top progressing countries while India, Congo Democratic Republic, Nigeria, Angola, Chad and Mozambique were in the rear. Notably, by 2009 Botswana had achieved some of the targets. Some of the countries did not provide adequate data for proper assessment.

Conclusion

There was some level of progress among the priority countries in different areas geared towards reaching the elimination of new HIV infections in children, however some countries are still far behind. The performance in the area of mother - infant pairs receiving antiretroviral drugs is generally not encouraging. There is need for more drastic measures in the slowly progressing countries and keeping pace with the others. This research will be published in open access journals and presented to the research communities.

CCEBDM is a pan India program for the capacity building of primary care physicians in the field of diabetes. As the country is becoming the diabetic capital with a lack of trained physicians in this field this program is launched in 2010. An evaluation was done to assess the short impact of the program and it was found that the program was effective and the skills of the physicians improved after attending the training program.

Background

Diabetes is considered one of the major contributors to the global burden of disease. It exemplifies management challenges because of long latency, chronicity, multi-organ involvement and long term care. In India, health system is constrained in term of trained manpower and limited institutional capacities for diabetes management. A balanced approach to equip primary care physicians with advanced and newer evidence based knowledge for better diabetes management is fundamental.

Objectives

This article/paper is aimed to assess the impact and effectiveness of PAN INDIA Certificate Course in Evidence Based Diabetes Management (CCEBDM).

Methodology

CCEBDM is an evidence based diabetes management course with the objective of improving the treatment outcomes for patients by serving as an evidence based guidance for clinical decision making in risk assessment, diagnosis, prognosis and management of diabetes. Improvement in knowledge of physicians was assessed by quantitative and qualitative methods. For quantitative analysis pre and post test scores were used and for qualitative analysis, end-line evaluation as a cross-sectional survey was conducted with 100 and 125 randomly selected physicians from CCEBDM Cycle-I and cycle-II respectively using pre tested scheduled questionnaires two months after completion of cycles.

Results

Pre-post test scores of 2776 physicians were assessed for the knowledge improvement and it was found that there is significant improvement (P value < 0.05) in knowledge regarding basics of diabetes, pharmacological treatment, acute and chronic complications with management. Once the course was completed the frequency of treating diabetic patient/physician/month increased (38% 501 to 1,500 patients per month and 44% stated that they treated about 101 to 500 patients per month), and the confidence level of physician increased in the field of diabetes diagnoses and management. Frequency of physicians who were confident to manage diabetic complications like hypoglycaemia (73%), peripheral neuropathy (94%), skin complication (82%), sexual dysfunction (78%), diabetic foot (74%) and nephropathy (71%) increased. 90% were confident about managing patients on insulin independently.
While assessing the clinic structure it was found that 66% of physicians had provision for laboratory facilities routine blood screenings, 53% had on-site dieticians who help the diabetic patients, 35% had a counsellor to guide the patients, 49% were using DBMS, 79% had full time nurses on duty, and 76% used various forms of Patient Education Resources to elicit awareness about diabetes. The majority of the physicians agreed that the course contributed significantly to their knowledge of diabetes management and added value to their treatment skills. All agreed that curriculum was up-to-date with latest advances and guidelines and faculty’s personal clinical experience added to their teaching were very useful as now they can consult the diabetic experts anytime for references.

Conclusion

CCEBDM is an evidence based course and uses recent clinical findings in developing clinical guidelines for better management of diabetic patients and is very effective in improving the knowledge of physicians and clinical practices in diabetes management. Also by building the capacity of primary care physicians in diabetes management, it seems to be a solution to control the increasing burden of diabetes and to improve the productivity of people who are living with diabetes.

Increasingly, there is an emphasis upon the need for scaling up the capacity of primary health care. The Primafamed-network (www.primafamed.ugent.be), at its workshop in November 2012 formulated a statement on human resources for primary health care. They formulated a plan that will lead to 30.000 new family physicians in sub-saharan Africa by 2020. There is an increasing need for skilled primary health care providers, and also family physicians at the primary health care level in Africa. Until now, in different African countries only a small number of family physicians have been trained. There is a huge problem of recruitment of family physicians in the medical faculties.

Background

Accessible and comprehensive primary health care is a key factor to solve the health problems of the developing countries, also in Africa. There is a need to scale up both quality and capacity of family medicine in the context of primary health care teams in Africa. The actual programs have only been able to train a very limited number of family physicians. Increasingly, countries and ministries of health recognised the importance of this discipline to strengthen health systems.

Objectives

To formulate a policy statement to scale up family medicine and primary health care in Africa and to develop a strategy accordingly.

Methodology

At the recent Primafamed-workshop in Vic Falls (Zimbabwe), a gathering of African representatives from 20 African countries discussed the different strategic options in order to scale up the capacity of family medicine and primary health care. The result was a statement published in the African Journal of Primary Health Care and Family Medicine (http://www.phcfm.org).

Results

Starting from reports from various countries, with a diverse scale of strategic approaches to capacity building in family medicine, a debate formulated a statement on scaling up. Important choices are related to the duration of the training, increasing the recruitment from undergraduate curriculum, and utilising appropriate educational strategies to train family physicians in the communities. Increasing exposure in undergraduate training to family and community service is essential to improve recruitment. Although some countries are in favour of a 4-years training, probably a 2-years program will be able to contribute to the achievement of the needed scaling up to capacity.

Conclusion

The participants agreed that, if the strategy could lead to the fact that 50% of the graduates would be trained in family medicine from 2013 onwards, this will lead to 30.000 new family physicians in sub-saharan Africa by 2020 in a 2-year program.

Low socioeconomic status is associated with higher risk of overall and cause specific mortality in a country of the African Region.

Background

Low socioeconomic status (SES) is consistently associated with higher mortality in high income countries. Only few studies have assessed this association in low and middle income countries, mainly because of sparse reliable mortality data.

Objectives

This study explores SES differences in overall and cause-specific mortality in the Seychelles, a rapidly developing small island state.

Methodology

All deaths have been medically certified for more than two decades. SES and other health risk factors were assessed in a total of 3246 participants from three independent population-based surveys conducted in 1989, 1994 and 2004. Vital status was ascertained using linkage with vital statistics. Occupational position was assessed using the same questions in the three surveys.

Results

During a mean follow-up of 15.0 years (range 0-23 years), 523 participants died (overall mortality rate 10.8 per 1000 person-years). The main causes of death were cardiovascular disease (CVD) (219 deaths) and cancer (142 deaths). Participants in the low SES group had a larger mortality risk overall (HR=1.80; 95% CI: 1.24-2.62), CVD (HR=1.95; 1.04-3.65) and larger non-cancer/non-CVD (HR=2.14; 1.10-4.16) mortality compared to participants in the high SES group. Cancer mortality also tended to be patterned by SES (HR=1.44; 0.76-2.75). Major lifestyle-related risk factors (smoking, heavy drinking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia) explained 25%, 11% and 19% of the associations between low SES and all-cause, CVD, and non-cancer/non-CVD mortality, respectively.

Conclusion

In this population-based study assessing social inequalities in mortality in the African region, low SES was strongly associated with overall, CVD and non-cancer/non-CVD mortality. Our findings support the view that the burden of non-communicable diseases may disproportionally affect the poor in low and middle income countries.

This article explores how family planning methods have contributed to unintended pregnancy among the rural women in Bangladesh. The study was a cross-sectional survey of 3,300 women. Findings suggest that among the respondents about 29 percent of the pregnancies were unintended. Analysis was found that those who did not use contraceptive methods before their last pregnancy had reduced odds (OR=0.22) of experiencing unintended pregnancy compared to those who used modern contraceptive methods. Advocacy is needed to promote longer acting and permanent methods among the eligible couples to avoid unintended pregnancy.

Background

In Bangladesh most of the reproductive health programs are directed towards improving maternal health and family planning. These efforts lead to the decline of maternal mortality by 40% from 322 deaths in 2001 to 194 deaths in 2010 per 100000 live births, which may be attributable to remarkable progress in fertility decline, from a high level of 6.3 births per woman in the mid-1970s to 2.3 births per woman in 2011. Contraceptive use rate has also increased from only 8 in 1975 to 61 in 2011. Despite these recent achievements, maternal mortality still remains one of the prime challenges and also unintended pregnancy remained same for last three decades. Unintended pregnancy is typically exposed to the risk of abortion. In Bangladesh, abortion-related complications contribute to about one-fourth of all maternal deaths. Besides this, the rate of unintended pregnancy is also one of the most basic measures of the situation of women's reproductive health, and of the level of women’s autonomy and capacity for self-determination. It signifies a woman’s capacity to determine whether and when to have pregnancies.

Objectives

According to 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS), in Bangladesh, 30 percent of pregnancies were unintended. The total intended fertility rate was 1.6 which is quite lower than the total fertility rate (TFR) 2.3. This means that if all unintended pregnancies could be eliminated, the TFR would drop below the replacement level of fertility immediately. High discontinuation rate, low use of long acting and permanent methods, erroneous use of family planning methods and unmet needs of family planning, in part or combined all contribute to the incidence of unintended pregnancies. Considering the situation, this article explores how family planning methods have contributed to unintended pregnancy among the rural women in Bangladesh.

Methodology

This article used data from the follow-up survey of evaluation of the Reproductive Health Voucher Evaluation project in Bangladesh. It was a quasi-experimental research design with pre and post studies in intervention and control areas and the assignment to the intervention was non random. It was conducted in 22 sub-districts where 11 sub-districts were selected as intervention areas. The other 11 sub-districts were selected as control areas. In this study a baseline survey was conducted in 2010 and a follow-up survey was conducted in 2012. A total of 3,300 women of 18-49 years of age were interviewed who gave birth in the previous 12 months from the starting date of data collection. Respondents’ socioeconomic and demographic characteristics as well as service utilization and perception of each service were collected by using a structured questionnaire in this survey. In this article, both bi-variate and multivariate analyses were used to examine strength of the relationship between the unintended pregnancy and use of family planning methods.

Results

Findings suggest that among the respondents (women) 68 percent wanted to become pregnant, 20 percent women wanted to wait or mistimed and another 12 percent did not want children any more. In other words, about 32 percent of the pregnancies were unintended. It was found that almost fifty percent (49 percent) of respondents were using a contraceptive method before their last pregnancy. Among them only one percent used a traditional method and rest 48 percent used a modern contraceptive method. Interestingly, the women who used (49 percent) any contraceptive before their last pregnancy, among them 46 percent experienced unintended pregnancy. On the other hand, non-users (51 percent) of contraceptive methods reported relatively lower proportion of unintended pregnancy (20 percent). The rate of unintended pregnancy also varied according to the use of contraceptive methods. The proportion of unintended pregnancy was comparatively higher among injectable users (51 percent) as compared to other method users.Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the odds of unintended pregnancy for each of the risk factors controlling for the others. It was found that those who did not use contraceptive methods before their last pregnancy had a reduced odds (OR=0.22) of experiencing unintended pregnancy compared to those who used modern contraceptive methods. Among contraceptive users, the likelihood of reporting unintended pregnancy was 1.6 times higher among the women who used traditional method as compared to modern contraceptive method users.

Conclusion

Findings suggest that the unintended pregnancy rate was higher among the contraceptive users before their last pregnancy than non-users. Again, the rate was higher among traditional and temporary modern method users as compared to longer acting modern method users. From several studies it has been explored whether the incidence of unintended pregnancy might decline more slowly than expected, and might even rise for a while, as countries move through the fertility transition. So, it can be assumed that the improvement of quality of family planning services is likely to decrease the level of unintended pregnancies in the future and advocacy is needed to promote longer acting and permanent methods among eligible couples to avoid unintended pregnancy.

Using the principles of public health ethics, particularly resource allocation ethics, this paper conducts a conceptual analysis of Integration and Convergence in the light of National AIDS Program Planning in Resource-constrained Settings. Sustaining and maximizing current achievements equitably in a resource constrained environment is indeed a challenge. Resorting to a fair and legitimate priority setting framework is the bare minimum that countries ought to do, without which the AIDS programs stand a serious risk of implosion. By undertaking an exercise of meaningful deliberative democracy, there are potential substantive benefits beyond procedural ones.

Background

HIV is now referred to as a chronic manageable condition – a class of conditions under which diabetes and hypertension are included. With the advent of ART and other advances in treatment, care, and support, and with the increasing number of persons newly infected with HIV, the number of people requiring prolonged care and treatment continues to grow. Thus there is a clear need to continue investments in order to consolidate and sustain the successes so far, as well as ensure that the successes of the global and national efforts are equitably distributed. Convergence and Integration have been advocated as means to achieve the above two goals. The Planning Commission of India working group on AIDS has also made remarks on similar lines that “one of the critical challenges is to move towards more effective and efficient approaches through convergence and integration of programme components such as basic HIV services, comprehensive care, support and treatment with National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and general health systems to the extent possible” (Planning Commission Working Group on AIDS, 2011). Apart from reducing the costs of interventions, convergence and integration have the potential to strengthen overall health systems as well (Shakarishvili, G et al, 2011; 2010).

Objectives

The objective of this paper is to analyse India's National AIDS Program planning through a lens of integration and a prism of resource allocation. The National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) – now a separate department under the central ministry of health and family welfare in India – conducted a series of consultations with stakeholder groups for planning the next phase of the National AIDS Control Program (NACP). Different reviews of the current phase of NACP indicate success against the set benchmarks on several fronts. The program is on track and will achieve the targets set for most of the indicators (NACO E-Consultation, 2011). The fourth phase of the program (NACP-IV) is projected as the logical next step in India’s efforts to halt and reverse the epidemic, which is also in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). It is envisaged to build on the different achievements of its predecessor - NACP-III – in order to reverse the epidemic through enhanced prevention as well as reinforced care, support, and treatment. However, NACP officials themselves have stressed the need for concerted attention in future for “consolidating the gains and ensuring quality and coverage”. (NACO E-Consultation, 2011) In addition, there have been concerns regarding the availability of resources in order to continue the existing beneficial interventions and to accelerate the achievements in alignment with the national goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to halt and reverse the HIV epidemic. Quoting the Planning Commission of India’s steering committee on Health, media reports talked about a proposal to ‘merge’ NACP with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) (Times of India, 2012). According to some members of the steering committee, it is about training the front line health workers similar to the Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) in the AIDS program. However, officials from the Ministry of Health and NACO publicly expressed their unhappiness and emphasized that the NACP deals with a specialized issue and a clientele different from that of ANMs. (Times of India, 2012) It appears prima facie that this proposal for a “merger” originates with the objective to streamline the health programs. This most recent media debate does not mention the proverbial ‘elephant in the room’ which are the resource constraints faced by the AIDS program.

Methodology

The analysis in this paper is based on the Modified Accountability for Reasonableness Framework. Whereas ethics can guide policy makers and program planners on “what ought to be done”, economic analysis and research evidence can substantially help in setting the priorities in a resource constrained environment. Scientific and research evidence informs us of the effectiveness of particular interventions in order to guide resource allocation decisions and economics tries to find out the efficiency of interventions from a population-health point of view. (Gibson J et al, 2005). While there has been concerted efforts to incorporate evidence and economics into the priority setting process, decision makers often feel a gap in ensuring the ethics of decision making are addressed. (Gibson J et al, 2005). It is in this context that a framework like the Accountability for Reasonableness (A4R) becomes handy for decision makers to ensure a fair and legitimate process in priority setting (Daniels N, 2000). The A4R framework has demonstrated the potential benefits of ethical considerations to deal with the “how” part in the decision making process of allocating scarce resources. The further addition of a fifth condition of empowerment to the original four conditions further strengthens the framework (Gibson J et al, 2005). This addition is an important step in respecting autonomy by virtue of citizens and groups who are empowered to participate in the process.

Results

The results of the analysis is described under the following five conditions of the A4R+E framework: Condition 1: Relevance
As per the Relevance condition, the decisions need to be made on the basis of reasons that ‘fair-minded’ stakeholders can agree upon as criteria for decision making. The reasoning must comprise evidence, principles, and values.Condition 2: PublicityThis condition stipulates that the decisions along with the rationale for decisions should be transparent and publicly accessible. Condition 3: Revision and Appeals
As per this condition, NACP-IV planning process must have built-in opportunities to revisit and revise decisions in light of further evidence or arguments and there should be a mechanism for challenge and dispute resolution.Condition 4: Enforcement
As per this condition "enforcement" is necessary to ensure that the above three process-oriented conditions are met.Condition 5: Empowerment
According to this condition, there must be “efforts to optimize effective opportunities for participation in priority setting and to minimize power differences in the decision making context”.Further, the following also needs to be kept in mind based on the results of conceptual research on Convergence and Integration. Convergence and Integration have different meanings – former being more of a programmatic high level consideration and the latter as a grass-roots level service delivery consideration. Yet, these two terms have traditionally been used synonymously to broadly refer to the concepts discussed in the above two paragraphs. However, the term ‘Merger’ is relatively new in this context and connotes a more radical approach where one entity will lose its identity once the process of merger is completed. In the context of health care organizations, mergers have raised difficult ethical issues from the perspective of clients and patients, and service providers (Shaw D, 2003). Even though mostly in the context of hospitals, there have been instances where the mergers achieved neither cost-reduction nor quality-improvement (Weil T, 2010). Thus, mergers, especially those done in haste, have the potential to harm the program and its beneficiaries. Even in the case of integration of HIV related services with general health systems, there are cautions against blanket integration as opposed to carefully planned integration of select interventions.

Conclusion

The analysis in this paper reveals that issues related to resource allocation have not been acknowledged and addressed adequately in the planning process of NACP-IV. As a result, the planning process, even though participatory in nature, did not have a resource allocation framework to adhere to. Neither was it able to consult the stakeholders with possible options and rationales for decision making in the context of shrinking resources. In addition, the concepts of integration and convergence have not been dealt with in detail leaving room for speculations and misinterpretations as mergers. It does not seem to be a problem exclusive to India that resource allocation within and between sectors related to health gets inadequate if not neglected attention. Critiquing the report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health, Bayoumi in 2009 has stated that the Commission missed an opportunity by being “largely silent” on the issue of resource allocation. However, the Commission’s report did in fact show skepticism towards the current trends of health care reform which gives a very narrow focus on economic efficiency; as opposed to a broader attention to priority measures (Bayoumi A, 2009). It is still not too late for India to adopt a framework like the modified version of the Accountability for Reasonableness framework with empowerment as an additional condition (Gibson J et al, 2005). Certainly, this framework cannot stand in isolation but must form a broader frame on which evidence and economic analysis form superimposing rubrics for decision making (Gibson J et al, 2006). For this to happen, first there should be an explicit acknowledgement of the ‘elephant in the room’, rather than silence about resource constraints. Sustaining and maximizing the current achievements equitably in a resource constrained environment is indeed a challenge. Resorting to a fair and legitimate priority setting framework is the bare minimum that India ought to do, without which the AIDS program stands a serious risk of implosion. By undertaking an exercise of meaningful deliberative democracy, there are potential substantive benefits apart from procedural ones (Gutmann A, 1997).

This paper examined the impact of the intervention of a demand-side financing scheme on the utilization of services as well as out-of-pocket expenses incurred by women for availing of delivery care services. A quasi-experimental research design was conducted for this study. Findings reveal that there was a significant (p<0.0001) increase in the utilization of delivery care at public facilities in the intervention areas compared to the control areas. The average out-of-pocket cost or money required for a normal or caesarean delivery decreased over thirty percent over the time period. Demand-side financing had a positive effect on both utilization and cost.

Background

In rural Bangladesh, around 71% of births take place at home. Home delivery is preferred as it is associated with low cost and delivery care at facilities are only considered for emergency obstetric care (EmOC). Bangladesh is predominantly a rural, low income country with a vast majority of its people living in poverty. The utilization of skilled attendants at delivery was almost three times less in rural areas compared to urban areas and also it is seven times less among the poorest (9%) compared to the richer (63%) households. Borrowing, using household savings, and financial assistance from relatives were also found to be important sources in paying for the delivery care.
In the health sector of Bangladesh, the primary source of finance is out of pocket (OOP) expenditure and it is primarily spent in the private sector. Here 64% of total health care expenditure is paid by individuals and the rest by the government. In many situations, OOP payments for health care can cause households to incur catastrophic expenditures, which in turn can push them into poverty. Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of catastrophic illnesses which drives 3.8% of the population into poverty every year.

Objectives

To address this equity issue, the Government of Bangladesh piloted a demand-side financing (DSF) scheme (popularly known as the maternal health voucher program) in 21 upazilas (sub-districts) from 2006 and expanded to 33 upazilas in 2007. The selected poor women under DSF scheme receive a package of essential maternal health care services, as well as treatment of pregnancy and delivery related complications. This program also provides supply side financing to service providers. This program has been expanded to another 11 upazilas in 2010. Population Council, with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has been evaluating the impact of voucher programs in five countries including Bangladesh. As part of evaluation activities, Population Council conducted a baseline survey in 2010 and a follow-up survey in 2012 in new 11 DSF (intervention) and 11 non DSF areas (control). This article used information from the baseline and follow-up survey to examine the impact of this intervention on utilization as well as out-of-pocket expenses incurred by women for availing delivery care services at facility.

Methodology

A quasi-experimental research design with pre and post studies in intervention and control areas was conducted to evaluate the impact of demand side financing vouchers on maternal health care services. The assignment to the intervention was non random. A baseline survey was conducted in 2010 with a follow-up survey in 2012. The study was conducted in 22 sub-districts where 11 sub-districts were selected as intervention areas where demand-side financing scheme was implemented. The other 11 sub-districts were selected as control areas where the demand-side financing scheme was not implemented. To draw a sample population, the national facility-based births figure was considered for baseline and follow-up survey and a total of 3300 women with 1650 experimental subjects and 1650 control subjects were selected. From each sub district, three of nine unions and three villages from each union were selected through probability proportional to size and finally, from each selected village, required numbers of respondents were interviewed. Women from 18-49 years of age were interviewed who had given birth in the previous 12 months from the starting date of data collection. Respondents’ socio-economic and demographic characteristics as well as service utilization and cost of each service were collected by using a structured questionnaire. Following the same sampling procedure, we interviewed the same numbers of respondents in the follow-up survey.
Out-of-Pocket Expenses: To examine the expenditure pattern, women were requested to report expenses on card/registration fees, consultation fees, laboratory examination, medicine, round trip transportation and any other associated costs to avail maternity care services. These expenses have been divided into three broad categories: medical cost at the facility, medical cost outside the facility, and transportation cost. “Medical cost at the facility” or internal medical cost includes card/ registration fee, consultation fee (unofficial), laboratory charges, drug cost (unofficial), tips to support staff for expediting services, and attendant expenditures for staying at the facility. Expenditures to purchase drugs and get laboratory services from the other private sector are considered as “medical cost outside the facility” and the actual cost women pay to transport providers is calculated as “transportation cost”.

Results

Information on the utilization of delivery presented in Table 1 indicates an increase in the proportion of the deliveries that occurred at the facility from 19 percent in 2010 to 31 percent in 2012 in the intervention areas with the control sites experiencing almost the same increase. Use of public-sector facilities for delivery services increased in intervention sites while control sites experienced greater increase in using the private sector. It has emerged from the 2010 & 2012 expenditure pattern that all delivery services involved OOP payments and the average volume of expenditure is higher in control than in intervention. Findings illustrated the average cost of different OOP expenses for receiving normal delivery services from public health facility. Cost incurred outside the facility (purchasing drugs and laboratory services) is the largest component (about half) of OOP expenditure for normal and cesarean delivery services in both areas. For that reason total average cost for normal delivery decreased a little bit in control areas also. Commonly, transportation cost increased in both intervention and control for normal or cesarean delivery.In the intervention group there has been a decline in the OOP cost for cesarean delivery that women incurred as medical cost both inside and outside the facility while an increase was reported for control. Reduction in both internal and external cost implies a positive impact of demand side financing benefits on women in receiving cesarean deliveries. With a mixed pattern of expenditure, the differences in OOP expenses between intervention and control that women incurred in 2012 cannot be explained with the effect of the DSF program.In the intervention areas, the average OOP cost for receiving normal delivery service reduced by 44% (from $40 to $22), and money required for a caesarean delivery decreased by 30% (from $115 to $80). Comparisons within public and private and voucher non-voucher has been made only in DSF upazillas. For the women external medical costs at private facilities were double compared to public facilities. Internal medical cost was four times higher at private facilities than at public facilities. In a two-year period, this expense remained same for public facilities while it increased three times for private facilities. Again, voucher clients spent much less money than non-voucher clients.

Conclusion

The recent shift in program development has taken place from being supply-side driven to being demand-side driven which improves the situation of non-accessibility of poor pregnant mother to the health facility. Findings reveal that there was a significant increase in the utilization of delivery care at the facility but it was also observed that the use of public-sector facilities for delivery services increased in only intervention sites while control sites experienced greater increase in the use of the private sector. The demand-side incentive package for the poor covers essential costs for maternal health care services and related to transportation cost also, while other costs like the purchase of additional medicine, unofficial provider fees and incidental costs incurred at facility are not covered under the program. Therefore, in DSF upazillas, there is no woman who did not incur any cost to utilize delivery services. Findings suggest the average volume of expenditure in receiving normal or cesarean deliveries is higher in control than in intervention areas. So, cost implies a positive impact of DSF benefits on women and this leads to the conclusion that DSF may have contributed to lower OOP payments. These findings necessitate the allocation of resources to subsidize the cost women incur to purchase medicine and undergo laboratory services that are not available in government facilities. Increased transportation expenses strongly justifies the need to increase the existing amount of financial assistance the government provides to poor clients. Without making normal delivery fully subsidized, it will be difficult to increase the institutional delivery rate as women still spends a large share of their family income for receiving normal delivery services.Besides this, implementing programs at the upazila hospital alone cannot raise the rate of delivery in rural areas. Additionally, for optimum utilization of the existing health structure in rural areas, other govt. facilities need to incorporate it. It was also observed that a large proportion of women are receiving services from private health facilities. Therefore, the national health financing strategies should engage the private health sector in a way that enables poor women to receive services from the private sector more easily. With the right types of interventions, maternal health-related MDG may not be very difficult to achieve in Bangladesh.

One of the constraints in hospital waste management in Pakistan is ineffective legislation and the improper training about the collection, transportation and disposal of waste. In addition, unavailability of appropriate equipment for disposal (incinerators, autoclaves etc.) and insufficient budget to meet the expenses of waste management has led to many hospitals burning their waste in open environments. Lack of professional waste management teams, both at upper and lower levels, is another cause of hospital waste management failures in Pakistan. Unfortunately, scarce data is available on this issue therefore, this study has provided some of the baisc facts needed to improve hospital waste management.

Background

Open dumping of hospital waste is one of the biggest threats to the urban environments in Pakistan. Unprecedented risks are posed to public health when infectious hospital waste is openly burnt along with municipal waste. This has undermined the sustainability of breathing air quality in Rawalpindi city where population has been complaining about this issue but no proper action has been initiated to solve the problem.

Objectives

This study aimed to evaluate the waste generation, collection, segregation, transportations and disposal from major hospitals of Rawalpindi and its effect on the urban environment. An effort was made to document the effects of hospital waste burning on urban populations in order to find out the relation between ill-health effects faced by the people directly exposed to hospital waste burning.

Methodology

Primary data was collected through comprehensive surveys which included questionnaire form, personal observations, formal and informal meetings. Secondary data was collected from hospital records. Logistic Regression analysis was performed to evaluate the first hand response obtained during surveys and the presence/absence of any ill-health effect was analyzed in the context of exposure extent.

Results

The result indicated that approximately one sweeper is used for the cleaning of six beds and average daily waste generation rate was 1.55 kg day each bed, which contains 71% non-infectious and 14% infectious waste with 91% average bed occupancy rate. Three of the studied hospitals have separates waste bins for infectious and non-infectious waste collection. But unfortunately, the segregation of waste is only at the point of generation. Two of the studied hospital had wheel trolleys for waste collections while other used manpower for waste collection. Two of the studied hospitals had no proper place for the temporary storage of waste and none of the hospital had refrigerators/cooling room for the storage of pathological waste. Out of 254 responses collected during the questionnaire survey, 85% regarded themselves as directly exposed to waste burning fumes. Among ill-health effects attributed to hospital & municipal burning exposure includes in respiratory tract infections (Odds ratio = 3.18; 95% confidence interval 1.17 – 7.89) and eye irritations (Odds ratio = 2.66; 95% confidence interval 1.37 – 8.11).

Conclusion

Open burning of hospital and municipal waste must be immediately stopped as it appears to be an urban health issue. A well-managed waste administration team is required for all hospitals in Rawalpindi city to develop a multidirectional co-operation from all stakeholders, including federal and provincial governments, public, private hospitals and waste disposal staff.

Medication use review (MUR) is a service provision with accredited pharmacists undertaking structured adherence-centered reviews with patients on multiple medications, particularly those receiving medications for long-term conditions. The overall goal of MUR is to maximize an individual patient’s benefit from their medication regimen and prevent drug-related problems. MUR service is not yet established in community pharmacies in Qatar and nothing is known about pharmacists' knowledge, attitude, and practice pertaining to this service.

Background

In Qatar, most patients currently receive their medications from the 8 public hospitals under Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC). In spite of being secondary and tertiary hospitals, most patients prefer to obtain their care including outpatient pharmacy services from these hospitals. Owing to this preference and attitude, there is unwarranted overcrowding in most hospitals and their outpatient pharmacies within HMC. One of the goals of Qatar’s National Health Strategies 2011-2016 is to improve the health services to international standards. Under this premise, Qatar envisions to provide world-class health care standard services and the best healthcare in the Middle East region (NHS 2011-2016). Within this goal, there is a community pharmacy strategy project aiming to adopt and implement international community pharmacy services and best practices as benchmark. Medication use review (MUR,) is one of these services. MUR service is not yet established in community pharmacies in Qatar and nothing is known about pharmacists' knowledge, attitude, and practice pertaining to this service. To our knowledge, the current study is the first one carried out to investigate the potential impact of implementing MUR services.

Objectives

The overall aim of this research was to evaluate the perception of community pharmacists towards establishing MUR service as an extended role in patient care. The specific objectives of the study are to: 1) Assess the availability of facilities to support MUR implementation in community pharmacies in Qatar; 2) Evaluate pharmacist's self-perceived competence in providing MUR service; 3) Assess the knowledge of community pharmacists on MUR; 4) Assess the practices of the community pharmacists pertaining to MUR.

Methodology

A cross-sectional study using self-administered questionnaires as a research tool was conducted among community pharmacists in Qatar from December 2012 to January 2013. The survey evaluated the pharmacists' self-perceived competence and attitudes towards providing MUR services in Qatar. The study involved pharmacists practicing in the private community pharmacy setting. There are approximately a total of 500 community pharmacists practicing in Qatar. In order to achieve a confidence level of 95% and 5% margin of error, a random sample of 220 community pharmacists currently practicing as community pharmacists in different cities and different pharmacies, including chains and independent pharmacies, in Qatar were selected to participate in the study. Inclusion criteria for potential respondents was: 1) being licensed as a practicing pharmacist in Qatar; 2) Currently working as a community pharmacist and; 3) working in a community pharmacy in Qatar for at least 12 months. The research instrument was developed via review of the literature pertaining to MUR, consultation with experienced researchers, experts, and licensed community pharmacists involved in the service. The data collected were analyzed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Science (IBM SPSS® Statistics) version 20 for analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Supreme Council of Health, Qatar.

Results

One hundred and twenty-three community pharmacists responded to the survey, but 116 were included in the analysis (useable rate 94%; 116/123). The mean total knowledge score was 71.4% ± 14.7%. Although, nearly all of the participants (97%) were able to identify the scope of MUR in relation to chronic illnesses and in enhancing the quality use of medicines, only 43.4% knew that acute conditions are not the principal focus of MUR services. Over 80% of the community pharmacists were able to identify patients of priority for inclusion in an MUR program. At least 95% of the participants acknowledged that provision of MUR services is a great opportunity for the extended role of community pharmacists and that MUR makes excellent use of the pharmacist's professional skills in the community. Participants generally reported concerns about time, dedicated consultation areas, and support staff being significant barriers towards MUR. A large proportion of the participants (95%) indicated that training and education should be conducted for community pharmacists before implementing MUR program.

Conclusion

The current findings suggest that community pharmacists in Qatar had sufficient knowledge about the concept of MUR and its scope, but there were still important areas of deficiencies and misconception of the practice that warrant education and training. The findings have important implications for policy and practice, particularly pertaining to the implementation of MUR services as an extended role of pharmacists and as part of Qatar's National Health Strategy 2011-2016 agenda to move primary health care forward in Qatar.